Sufjan Stevens

[DroppinScience]

Man, this guy sure is the indie darling of right now, huh?

I've been listening to his "Avalanche" (outtakes from his "Illinois" album) and "Songs for Christmas" set (5 EPs of Christmas tunes recorded over the last 5 years :eek: ).

The guy can do no wrong. Well, the "Enjoy Your Rabbit" album was kinda lame, but besides that. (y)

[Drederick Tatum]

Illinois is great and I was surprised how good Avalanche was. but yeah, he's pretty much on fire at the moment in terms of his music. I'm definitely looking forward to the next 50 states installment. hopefully he'll try some different things instead of relying on the mini-orchestra.

[kaiser soze]

I like him, a bit depressing at times but good

Also check out:

Jose Gonzales
Pedro the Lion
Sam Prekop

[DroppinScience]

Jose Gonzales


I've heard good things about him!

Pedro the Lion I'm "meh" towards.

[Auton]

hate... HATE him..

[cosmo105]

pedro the lion - winners never quit ep

^some awesome, awesome fucking songs on that. get it.

the rest, eh. he's a nice guy though.

[HEIRESS]

he has some random songs that are very very excellent

[Waus]

He's from my hometown. How about that.


I dunno, the first time I listened through I just thought it was really overdone. Of course I was really into the bare bones Elliott Smith stuff at the time, so maybe it was just bad timing.

Since my initial impression I've liked him more and more, but I still think most of his music just tries to hard. You have to admire how prolific he is though.

[jabumbo]

its sort of grown on me. it doesnt really fit in to my mood most of the time, but when i feel like it, i really like it and could listen to it forever

[yeahwho]

A very ambitious musician who needs to really pull in the reigns and focus. I sort of feel as if I'm enabling a ADHD case by listening to him.

If he just pulled in his undeniable talent and worked on refining (ala Springsteen did on Born to Run) he could probably cut a classic.

I feel sort of sad for some of his music though, it's embarrassing the way he rambles and twiddles.

[QueenAdrock]

its sort of grown on me. it doesnt really fit in to my mood most of the time, but when i feel like it, i really like it and could listen to it forever

Me too.

[enree erzweglle]

I caught him on Austin City Limits a couple of months ago. I was reading with the show playing in the background and his first song, Jacksonville, grabbed me and I didn't go back to my reading. I backed up through the Sufjan segment of the show a bunch of times and listened and watched. Then I bought Illinoise. Then Seven Swans. Then Enjoy Your Rabbit. Then Michigan.

Something about his music reminds me of the way thoughts move around in my head, the way ideas come to be, the way my mind feels noisy sometimes but with an underlying scheme of sorts--the way bits and threads of thoughts often coalesce into motivation, something with direction.

At a point, I showed my dad the Austin City Limits. If you haven't seen it, Sufjan and maybe 15 other musicians are packed onto a small stage; everyone is wearing brightly colored wings. I sat down with my dad and asked him to listen to the music and words but I could tell that he was watching v. listening. About a minute into the first song, my dad goes, "Why is he wearing wings?" ...he said it like he'd been thinking about it hard for that minute, like the wings were the purpose and everything else was secondary or inconsequential. Later, he said, "I don't get the wings. Why wings?" And I asked him to try to throw away the wings and listen to (what was by then) the words to Casimir Pulaski Day and my dad goes, "It's just that the wings keep getting in my way." Dad: :)